Top-Rated Charities

We have published a more recent list of top charities. See our most recent list.

Is there evidence that a charity's programs are effective? (Why do we look for proven programs?)
Are a charity's programs cost-effective? (How do we use "cost-effectiveness" figures?)
Can the charity productively use additional funds? (Why is scalability important?)
Is the above information shared transparently?

Out of approximately 400 that we have considered, these are our top-rated charities: (What do our ratings mean?)

Charity name	Region	Focus	Evidence of effectiveness	Cost-effectiveness	Funding gap	Transparency	Monitoring and evaluation	GiveWell rating	Overall rank
VillageReach	International	Immunizations	Strong	Excellent	Significant	Excellent	Excellent	Three stars	1
Stop TB Partnership	International	Tuberculosis	Strong	Excellent	Significant	Strong	Excellent	Three stars	2
Nurse-Family Partnership	U.S.	Childcare	Strong	Limited	Probable	Above average	Excellent	Three stars	3
KIPP	U.S.	Education	Above average	Limited	Probable	Above average	Strong	Three stars	4
Against Malaria Foundation	International	Malaria	Moderate	Excellent	Significant	Excellent	Strong	Two stars	5
Population Services International	International	HIV/AIDS; malaria	Moderate	Excellent	Probable	Excellent	Strong	Two stars	6
Partners in Health	International	Health clinics	Moderate	Moderate	Probable	Above average	Above average	Two stars	7
The Global Fund	International	HIV/AIDS; malaria; TB	Limited	Moderate	Probable	Excellent	Strong	Two stars	8
Teach for America	U.S.	Education	Above average	Limited	Unknown	Above average	Strong	Two stars	9
Pratham	India	Education	Above average	Limited	Unknown	Moderate	Strong	One star	10

Interpreting our ratings

Three stars - Strong on all of our criteria, and you can feel confident that your donation will cost-effectively change lives.
Two stars - Stands above the vast majority of charities on our criteria, though there is substantial room for concern on at least one of the criteria.
One star - Does not necessarily rate well on all our criteria, but there is at least one prominent and unusual factor in its favor compared to other charities: unusual transparency, unusual commitment to self-evaluation, superiority (on our criteria) to others with similar programs, and/or at least one substantial and impressive success in its past.
0 stars - Does not show signs of meeting any of our criteria.

Cause	Top-rated charities	Cost	Impact
International aid	VillageReach, Stop Tuberculosis Partnership	$200-$1,000 per life saved	Improve health, save lives
Poverty (international)	None	-	Unclear, if any
U.S. Poverty	Nurse-Family Partnership	$10,000 per child served	Increase academic performance and reduce criminal behavior
U.S. Education	Knowledge is Power Program	$20,000 per student (including state education funds)	Improve academic performance
Job Training (U.S.)	None	$10,000 per client served	Unclear, if any